Those are both healthy/fine - don't do anything.

Dax

agreed ...

should you wish to post a pic .. of a root actually growing around the trunk in a circle.. we might change our mind..

otherwise.. broast chicken little and relax.. the sky is NOT falling on these two trees ...

and congrats.. regardless of your groundless fear.. you have two pix of properly planted trees.. where the root flare is actually above ground.. you rock ...

ken

thanks, guys. One more pic...maybe not 'girdling' but definitely 'mingling'. A 3 trunk river birch with roots extending from each trunk between the others. Hard to make out all the detail in this pic...is this cause for any concern?
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Show some more photos. I don't like that split to the left which appears to be mechanical damage. There also 'appears' to be a girdled root but I'd like to see some closer views. If it is the case, it would be in your best interest to possibly remove the front two trunks. I just can't tell. At any rate, that open area on the left will bring in disease & insects. I'd probably remove that one. But let me see some more, first.

Dax

thanks, Dax, more pics tomorrow. Im sitting on my deck enjoying a frosty cold adult beverage, listening to some tunes and waiting for the sun to set...

OK, more pics of the river birch and the roots. It's still kind of difficult to see everything clearly so I put a yellow dot in the same spot on each pic so you can get an idea of the perspective of each shot. I'm moving around the tree counter clockwise with each pic.

start with a far away view - 4 ft high fence behind for scale.
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closer shot
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closer shot, again. Dax, the big root on the left splits into 2 roots, there is no mechanical damage. The dotted yellow line is where I removed a circling root this spring.
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not sure if roots like these are normal or if I need to do major surgery?

thanks

When the trees and roots are much bigger then any of those diverted roots could perfectly well start interfering with the trunks. And you are just looking at and talking about the roots that happened to show above ground. What about the rest of the root systems involved, nearly all of which are out of sight? If the ones you can see are still in the positions they were forced into by pot walls, the rest are liable to be also.

Picture the birch blowing over and smashing down the fence in so many years.

Pic with yellow dotted line. There is a girdling root just above the line where the line starts to the left.

There is some other stuff going on that is hard to decipher with a proposed action. I can't say the long term fate of the tree looks good. The fact its droppping that many leaves and the grass is quite green yet is a red flag.

As mentioned previously your other trees look good, flares exposed.

the irony is that now that I know how to plant trees properly I don't have many more to plant! I've already put in 30 in the last 5 years.

The yellowing leaves alarmed me a few days ago when they appeared. A quick google / forum search said that young river birchs will do this when stressed by hot, dry weather(?)I've since watered pretty heavily. We've gone 11 days without rain and temps hit high 90's for a while. It's really taken a toll on most lawns.

So the roots are a mess. I suppose the question is do I just hope for the best or do I remove and start over? This would be the 2nd river birch to not make it in this spot...kind of a bummer to start over...

Personally, for that spot, I'd start new with a new stately tree. Surely you have a nice little wishlist going!

I use to be a River Birch fanatic and I never had leaf drop like that...only if the grass was literally brown.

It's almost impossible to stop a triple trunk from girdling at least one stem, go with a single trunk next time.

And when grown in the open the trunks lean markedly away from each other in time, producing an unpleasant appearance of conflict.

You've all given me something to think about over the next few months. I do have some other trees I'd love to plant but didn't have the room....maybe I'll make room.